When I was on the hunt for fairy books I was delighted to find that Gail Carson Levine (of Ella Enchanted fame) had a new series out! Then when I received the book from the library, I noticed a small Disney insignia on the front cover and was dismayed. I am not sure I want Levine through a Disney filter, but I guess we’ll see!
It borrows the (I assume Disney owned?) premise of Never Land, a place where fairies dwell and boy and girls never grow up. Human children are rather annoyingly called Clumsies and the old “if you stop believing a fairy dies, unless you clap to show you believe” statement is trotted out. And then, before any actual story is even established, the whole “fairy talent” appears, with an “animal-talent” fairy and “keyhole-design-talent” fairy which quite honestly has made me lose faith in the whole endeavor.
Prilla, our main character is something more than a fairy, a bit of child attached itself to the laugh that makes a fairy. Subsequently she doesn’t seem to have a fairy talent, a very sad thing indeed. There are of course, fairies who aren’t quite properly formed, being created from slightly less than a laugh, but the less said about them the better.
A hurricane comes to Never Land threatening the lives of all who reside there. In order to save the day, Prilla must join with other fairies to complete a quest to save a broken egg. And perhaps, in the end, she will learn her talent after all.
I feel a bit embarrassed now that I recommended this to Laura without having read it. I was so excited that such an amazing author had fairy offerings on the table so I told her as soon as I discovered it. It’s really just not like Levine’s other books at all. It reads like it could have been written by anyone and has no real depth. While it does not seem to be a part of Disney’s Tales of Pixie Hollow series, it is nonetheless related. That said, it is a vast and epic improvement over the Rainbow Magic fairy books and I would strongly recommend suggesting it for readers who are stuck on a Rainbow Magic binge and need to be moved onto something more challenging and interesting. It is also relatively benign in terms of content (there is some scariness, but nothing more than your usual Disney type danger) and therefore would hold interest for younger readers as well.
One other tiny complaint – there is no real mention of race throughout the book, so would it have killed the illustrator to make any of the fairies appear to be minorities? Did they all have to be drawn white?
Age Recommendation: This would likely be on level for third graders. I would recommend it even more for younger students K-2 who are reading well above grade level for something that feels safe, silly and innocuous and yet introduces some better vocabulary.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – A male fairy (called a sparrow man) likes everything about a fairy, from her her “bounce” to her bangs. Tinker Bell has had her heart broken. A sparrow man tries to get a fairy to like him. Tink goes on about how she loved Peter and how sad she was that he brought over Wendy.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – Readers are told that if children (presumably them) stop believing in fairies, fairies will die. Hawks kill several fairies a year. When Neverland was created forests burned and animals died. We’re told too many fairies die of disbelief. Fairies are injured in a hurricane. A dove has its egg smashed and its wings broken. Captain Hook lists the names of all the captains he’s killed and how he killed them. A lark has bloody feathers. Hook has a birthmark in the shape of a cutlass dripping with blood. Hook does a lot of slashing about with a sword. A fairy kicks someone in the face. Some fairies are armed with daggers. A fairy bites someone in self-defense, drawing blood. There are rumors that a hawk fixes his eye on you and you are half-dead before he sinks his talons into you. A fairy breaks a leg. A fox is stabbed in the neck. A fairy dies of disbelief. The Dove thinks about dying and is dying. A fairy slaps another fairy.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Hook has a cigar holder which the fairies must steal.
Frightening or Intense Things – There’s a hurricane. A fairy is captured by a pirate. Fairies must steal something from a hawk, but hawks eat fairies. A fairy passes out from lack of air. A fox is planning to eat Mother Dove.
